In the fields of agricultural and construction vehicles, the number of electronic controls and systems has increased exponentially in recent years. For example, today's agricultural tractors include planter controllers, insecticide and herbicide controllers, and global positioning system (GPS) equipment, while today's agricultural combines include yield monitors, GPS equipment and sensors for monitoring the harvested crop. Each new electronic system typically includes a unique operator interface unit for displaying parameters and receiving operator input.
One problem with this increase in electronic controls is that the cab of the vehicle becomes cluttered with a plethora of controllers, boxes, user interfaces, etc. The need to operate these multiple controls can be confusing to the operator, and the increase in the number of controls increases the probability of time-consuming electrical problems in the cab.
A second problem with prior agricultural and construction vehicle systems arises from the fact that operators are demanding more operator-friendly interfaces such as touch screen technology and full color liquid crystal displays (LCD). These interfaces involve costly technology. Adapting these interfaces for the rugged applications of agriculture and construction only increases the cost. Redundancy of interface equipment has been a costly limitation of prior art agricultural and construction vehicle systems.
Yet another problem with prior systems relates to operator training. Even the most operator-friendly interface involves a learning curve while the operator gets accustomed to selecting desired options, flipping through menus or folders, storing data to storage media, etc. In prior systems, each new controller has a different user interface, requiring a new learning curve for the operator.
One prior art attempt to overcome the above limitations is a combine performance monitor that may be customized for operation with any of a number of combines. The customization process, however, is a time-consuming and complex three-level process requiring the farm equipment dealer, or the farmer if the farmer is sufficiently skilled, to enter parameters corresponding to various combine-specific characteristics. Also, the combine performance monitor may only be used on other combines, not on work vehicles designed to perform different types of work (e.g., tractors, sprayers, etc.).
Thus, what is needed is a reconfigurable control unit to overcome these and other problems and limitations of the prior art.